ABN Top 10 Stories for 2011

THE YEAR IN ARKANSAS BAPTIST LIFE – 2011. The editorial staff of the Arkansas Baptist News (ABN) has ranked the following top 10 stories of the year based on overall news value and significance to Arkansas Baptist life.

1. NAMB’s ‘massive overhaul’

The year was just getting underway in February when trustees of the North American Mission Board (NAMB), led by Kevin Ezell, newly-elected president and former Kentucky megachurch pastor, approved a sweeping reorganization of the domestic mission agency based in Georgia.

NAMB’s new strategy – focused heavily around church planting – was named “SEND: NORTH AMERICA.” 

“This is a massive overhaul,” Ezell said. “We believe it’s going to be an historic overhaul.” He added that the agency wants as many resources as possible to go to the field rather than to staffing overhead. 

“NAMB doesn’t exist to employ people; it exists to reach people.”

Ezell said he anticipated new funding agreements between NAMB and the 42 state conventions to be completed by March 2011. Following his arrival in late 2010, Ezell started the gradual phaseout of the Cooperative Agreements between the agency and conventions.

“Nearly 80 percent of NAMB’s money is invested in the unreached areas of North America, and only 20 percent goes to the Southern states, but that does not mean that those states will be neglected in the new agreements,” Ezell told trustees. 

2. Execs agree: 50/50 CP

Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) state executives at their annual fellowship meeting in Williamsburg, Va., in February agreed to affirm a portion of the Great Commission Resurgence (GCR) report requesting a 50/50 division of Cooperative Program (CP) receipts – after consideration for shared ministry funds – between state conventions and the Southern Baptist Executive Committee.

Emil Turner, executive director of the Arkansas Baptist State Convention and president of the Fellowship of State Executive Directors for 2011-12, emphasized that state executive directors felt it was important to make a statement to affirm their “strong support” of the Cooperative Program in light of the approval of the GCR report by SBC messengers last June.

“State conventions are already in this thing,” said Turner. “Several years ago, state executive directors agreed to get more money to the Executive Committee. Since then, we have all been working together to make that a reality.”

Turner said the concept of shared ministry funds in state conventions has been around since the establishment of the Cooperative Program in 1925. Shared ministry funds differ from state convention to state convention, but include monies set aside for various state-supported ministries. Shared ministry fund allocations are not counted as part of the 50/50 CP allocation forwarded to the SBC. 

3. Natural disasters

As in previous years, 2011 was not without its natural disasters affecting missionaries and mission efforts.

In March, after Japan was hit with a historic earthquake, tsunami and the world’s worst nuclear emergency in 25 years, International Mission Board (IMB) missionary families living in the country had to be relocated to safer regions.

In spite of difficulties and uncertainties about the ongoing nuclear crisis in the northeastern part of the country, Southern Baptist relief efforts moved forward and opened previously closed doors in the aftermath of the disasters in the country. 

In April, tornadoes swarmed several states, including Arkansas and Alabama, resulting in hundreds of people killed and widespread property damage. Just one month later in May, another widespread outbreak of tornadoes slammed Joplin, Mo., nearly wiping the city off the map.

In the weeks following and throughout the year, Arkansas Baptist disaster relief volunteers poured in to help in Arkansas, Alabama and Missouri, as well as to assist in efforts in Japan’s recovery.

4. Football and Christ

In the midst of one of the most successful football campaigns in school history, Arkansas State University’s (ASU) Hugh Freeze – a member of Central Baptist Church, Jonesboro – made a strong public statement of his faith and his goal to point his players to Christ.

Freeze, who in his first year as ASU head coach engineered the school’s leap from 95th in total offense among Football Bowl Subdivision teams to 43rd while setting nine school records, gave God credit for his success.

“It’s God’s goodness and favor. I tell my team that all the time. Why God has chosen to be good to me, I’m not exactly sure. I have so many faults and failures like most of us in this journey, but His goodness overwhelms me. His ways are perfect, but I don’t always understand them. I know He is in control,” said Freeze.

More important than teaching his players x’s and o’s was Freeze’s desire to introduce players to Jesus Christ.

“The fact that God has put me and the staff in a position of leadership and the opportunities to impact so many kids, carries with it a burden that you want to be found faithful. Hopefully, you can give them the greatest gift of all time, that being a relationship with Jesus Christ.”

After ASU finished the regular season 10-2, Sun Belt Conference champions and with a bid to the Go Daddy Bowl, Freeze returned to his home state of Mississippi as head coach of Ole Miss.

5. ABN marks 110 years

The Arkansas Baptist News (ABN) reached a very special birthday in 2011 – that of being the state newspaper for Arkansas Baptists for 110 years.

It was established as The Baptist Advance by messengers to the Arkansas Baptist State Convention (ABSC) meeting at First Baptist Church, Paragould, Nov. 15-19, 1901. There were newspapers in the state prior to the ABN, but none stood the test of time.

Challenges over the years included the Great Depression, inflation, dramatic increases in newsprint prices and ever-increasing postage rates.

A brochure, “Communication: A Family Tradition,” published in 1984 by the ABN staff, aptly summed up the journey the newspaper has traveled during the years of its existence. 

It said, “Communication through the state paper in the present was made possible by the struggles and day-to-day labor of some far-sighted Baptists in Arkansas. The past was not always easy and the future is not guaranteed. Challenges lie ahead and economic ones are among them. Yet, Arkansas Baptists have shown they can meet such challenges.”

Jon Stubblefield, the first president of the ABN board, acknowledged the challenge of continuing the medium of communication for Arkansas Baptists but came to this conclusion: “We must maintain a responsible, free channel of communication with grassroots Baptists.” 

6. SBC name change

At the September meeting of the SBC Executive Committee in Nashville, Tenn., SBC President Bryant Wright announced the appointment of a presidential task force to study the prospect of changing the 166-year-old convention’s name – a proposal that has been met with much debate. 

Wright, who was re-elected to a second one-year term during the SBC annual meeting in Phoenix in June 2011, said he believes the study would be helpful for two main reasons – to evaluate whether the “regional” nature of the name of the SBC hurts church planting efforts and if a name change could better position Southern Baptists to “maximize their effectiveness in reaching North America for Jesus Christ in the 21st century.” 

The task force is set to provide an interim report at the Feb. 20-21 meeting of the Executive Committee, with the possibility of a final report in time for the SBC annual meeting June 19-20 in New Orleans.

Any proposed name change, as well as other legal implications involved in a name change, would have to be approved by a majority of messengers at two consecutive SBC annual meetings, according to the convention’s constitution. 

7. Glorieta for sale

It was announced in September that the Glorieta Conference Center, one of Southern Baptists’ two national training centers operated by LifeWay Christian Resources in Nashville, Tenn., was scaling back operations and would be sold when conditions merited.

LifeWay officials said the aging conference center outside Santa Fe, N.M., has struggled with meeting its budget for two decades, and the decision has been made that LifeWay can no longer subsidize the operation.

It was announced that on Nov. 1, 2011, the conference center would reduce operations by reducing its staff from 23 to seven; changing its focus to a summer-only facility for church student groups, Centrifuge camps and Collegiate Week; and permanently closing the LifeWay bookstore.

Significant changes in church practices, rising fuel and utility costs, Glorieta’s remote location, an aging infrastructure, a volatile economy and changes in state convention structures have combined to make financial viability increasingly difficult at Glorieta, said Jerry Rhyne, vice president of the finance and business services division and LifeWay’s chief financial officer.

Trustees approved pursuing viable options for the disposition of the property, including, but not limited to, sales to or alliances with SBC entities, state conventions and other ministries. No timetable was set for the disposition of the site.

8. Eady nearly Miss America

Declaring, “God still has plans for me,” Miss Arkansas Alyse Eady – a 2010 graduate of Ouachita Baptist University – was named first runner-up in the 2011 Miss America Pageant televised Jan. 15.

Eady said competing in the recent Miss America Pageant “was a win-win situation for me; the experiences and opportunities I am about to have are incredible.”

“Coming from a small state, it’s amazing the amount of support I received even before I left for Miss America. I went there with a very strong group of supporters from Arkansas. It was an honor. I wouldn’t want to represent any other state,” said Eady.

9. Mission funding changes

Messengers to the Arkansas Baptist State Convention Annual Meeting Nov. 1-2 approved a number of proposed changes in the way missions are funded in the state.

The ABSC Executive Board made the recommendations to the convention’s Budget Formula Study Committee on Aug. 9 to continue to increase the percentage of funds (total receipts) forwarded to the SBC, to divide state budget surpluses with the SBC and to conduct a statewide emphasis every five years encouraging churches to increase their Cooperative Program percentages.

The revised budget formula goes into effect for the 2013-17 budget years.

Emil Turner, executive director, said the work of the ABSC Budget Formula Study Committee was particularly important as the SBC grapples with how to interpret and implement recommendations of the GCR report approved by SBC messengers in 2010. He noted the Budget Formula Study Committee existed in Arkansas prior to the adoption of the GCR report.

10. Turner marks 15 years

ABSC Executive Director Emil Turner celebrated 15 years as the state’s leader. 

In January 1996, Turner, a Louisiana native, was elected following the retirement of Don Moore, longtime state executive director and popular Arkansas pastor.

In Turner’s tenure, the ABSC has grown from 1,378 congregations in 1996 to 1,510 churches and missions today. That’s an increase of 132 churches, or 9.6 percent. Baptisms in Arkansas Baptist churches average about 13,000 annually.

Additionally, giving through the Cooperative Program (CP) has grown $5 million, increasing the convention budget from $15.5 milion to $20.5 million – a healthy 32 percent.

It’s Southern Baptists – cooperating together – that Turner embraced as a pastor of small, medium and large churches and what he has emphasized as the leader of Arkansas Baptists.

“(To be) serious about the Great Commission, … I knew we had to be cooperative to fulfill it. There’s just no other way to do it,” Turner said.

ABN reader feedback: What are your memorable and significant stories of 2011? These may be related to your personal ministry or your church, Arkansas, the nation or the world. Go to www.arkansasbaptist.org/2011was and add your comments today.

Comments

[Flyers Online]

Good luck to ABN family! may the Lord help and guide us on this plan. -Sarah-